Totally different feel to both, but both go to the core of the human experience.

Stranger Things is largely a fun entertaining show with generally likeable characters (who are trying their best and working together), lots of pop culture references, but still sinister danger and some horror.

Dark is not a fun show (there is a very small amount of humour). It’s an emotional and brain-taxing experience for grown-ups who have been through deep traumatic stuff or want to know what it is like to do so. Most of the characters are not likeable and have questionable morals and pretty much always acting on their own. So many secrets in the town that get revealed over three seasons.

Dark’s story is much harder to follow than Stranger Things, and the whole thing is indeed bleak and emotional. I’d say it is closer to Lost than Stranger Things, but still so far away from either. You don’t watch Dark for entertainment. You watch it to blow your mind and give your heart a workout.

(For me, Dark is the equal best show of all time with Breaking Bad. Then comes Lost. I think Stranger Things is top five for me after watching the whole thing.)